1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the transport of articles, more particularly those which are complex and prone to damage, still more particularly but not exclusively, to instrument panels and other electronics-bearing components used in the automobile industry.
2. Description of the Related Art
An important component in the assembly of an automobile is the instrument panel. It is unique because it contains many electronic components and is of a rather unusual shape. The instrument panel can be described as elongate with a central axis, which extends across the vehicle it is installed in. On one side of the axis is an exterior front face which must be kept out of contact with objects that can damage its outer finish. On an opposite side, the instrument panel has exposed wires, cables, heating ducts, dials, gauges and the like and must also be protected from damaging contact with external objects.
The equipment and methods to move instrument panels have tended to be manual and time consuming. The instrument panel is usually transported from an instrument panel assembly line to a vehicle assembly line by way of a wheeled cart. The instrument panel is guided to the cart by way of a gantry assist device and installed by guiding one end of the instrument panel to rest on a support flange and manually engaging an anchoring pin on the opposite end of the instrument panel so that the cart can hold it in place. The instrument panel is thus only supported at two locations. The instrument panel is then removed from the cart when a robot has been instructed to clutch the instrument panel and after an employee has acknowledged that he has manually disengaged the anchoring pin.
Though the conventional cart has functioned well for its intended purpose, the manner in which the instrument panel is loaded, supported and unloaded is problematic. The use of one anchoring pin on one end of the instrument panel and the lack of any additional support tends to cause the instrument panel to flex in torsion along its axis. The unpinned end is not positively engaged and this causes the instrument panel to twist to an undesirable position which must then be accommodated when aligning the pick-up robot for unloading the instrument panel from the cart. This results in a considerable amount of process time and manpower to load and unload instrument panels onto and off these conventional transport carts.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel device and method of transporting articles, such as instrument panels.